Christmas with the Cousins

It is such a special time when our family can all get together -- especially since half of our crew lives in Shenzhen, China!  This year was no exception. Adam, Chandra and Noah and Tristan came to stay at mom and dad's house in Moody for a month or so over the holidays. The normally quiet Queen Anne Victorian home gets a makeover on the 2nd floor as they prepare to have kids rule the roost.

This year we did something different, though. All of Chandra's family flew in from California to join us for the festivities! We had a full house with Ian, the boys, Talia and I, as well as Chandra, Adam, Noah and Tristan and Chandra's side of the family, along with Mom, Dad and JB! 

It was truly a family-filled Christmas! Here are some photos of our time all together...

Dad, Ian, Chandra's father - Karl, her Uncle Eric, her Aunt Vicki, Chandra and Adam all playing a family game of Monopoly one night. Adam has made this a family tradition to play Monopoly late into the night at least one time during the holiday. This time Karl won!

Christmas morning. Elijah got snowman sunglasses and I was wearing Joaquin's Christmas tree glasses.

Joaquin and Tristan were buddies, playing on the i-pad one morning

Uncle Adam gave Talia a "lip-smakin" passy in her stocking.

Elijah's new mustache stocking stuffer

Talia learned how to smile while we were staying at MiMi and Papaw's house for the holiday

Our first family meal out with all the boys in tow! They did great and made masterpieces on their coloring pages while we waited for the food to arrive.

Always fun at the kids end of the table!

Right outside Maggiano's where we ate dinner was a kids train that went all around the shopping area of the Domain. The boys LOVE to ride the train and it is a great motivator to have good manners during dinner so they can ride the train after we are all done! One adult gets to ride with them and it was my turn this time!

Noah and Elijah in their super hero outfits! These cousins are less than a month apart in age!

One day we took all the boys to the bowling alley for games, laser tag and arcade. The kids had a blast and so did mommy and daddy. Elijah learned how to make "selfie" faces. :)

Noah and Elijah with their Slurpee's during the game

Elijah picking out his bowling ball

Mommy teaching Joaquin how to bowl without stepping over the penalty line

All the boys got to play Pac Man on the dual game board

This was my attempt to take a photo of the crew during laser tag. It was pretty tough to see anything through the black lights and the smoke clouds. I hadn't played in years and it was super fun!

This is what the crew looked like on the way home from the bowling alley! 

Knocked out from all the fun!

A typical boys bath night... never a dull moment with four boys all 5 and under

Talia got to try on lots of Christmas gear... :)

MiMi had this little elf outfit that Tristan wore at one time. Talia looked so precious in it and it was super warm!

The day after Christmas was the official "day of the nap" for everyone -- including Daddy!

On Christmas Eve the boys all got matching p.j.s to sleep in!

Can you tell they are excited?

Chandra is soooooo good at getting all the boys in bed. She always put them in the tub, read them goodnight stories and got them in bed! They loved their special time "camping out" together.

This was our gingerbread house tradition. The boys each took a wall and decorated it then we put it all together to build the house! MiMi had lots of activities like this planned for the kiddos when we all got together!

This is one of the puzzle nights the kids had. MiMi and the boys all put together several

The grand kids all cuddled up with MiMi to watch a movie

Sweet Talia slept right in the middle of the mix!

Uncle John was so sweet with Talia! They bonded during the holidays and had special time together!

Joaquin ADORES being a big brother! And if you can't tell by Talia's big smile, she loves her big brother too!

This was another one of Talia's sweet little Christmas outfits!

Uncle Adam holding the first baby girl of the family

One of Talia's first giggles caught on film!

Talia is definitely a daddy's girl. She lights up every time she hears his voice and smiles when he tickles her!

Christmas Eve service

Waiting in line to put the kiddos in the kids service

Christmas morning

All the kids were in a flurry of activity

Chandra made her family traditional egg and sourdough breakfast casserole and the boys quickly opened their Santa gifts

Elijah was the only one I could get to stop for a second and pose for a photo

The archeology magnifying glass was a favorite

Uncle Adam read Luke 2 - the Christmas story before the festivities all began

Joaquin put on his new soccer jersey and his tree sunglasses and ran up and down the stairs yelling for everyone to come downstairs so we could open gifts under the tree

Elijah and Joaquin's big Santa gift was power wheels cars. The boys piled up in their p.j.s and coats and boots and hats and raced around the drive way all day!

Each car seats two kids so all 4 off the boys had a blast!

And Talia got lots of cuddles! Aunt Chandra was a favorite to cuddle up with and fall asleep...

It was a wonderful holiday season and we all made so many special memories together!

Going to see Santa

This year the boys wrote letters about their behavior this year and then dropped it off at the Santa's mailbox. 

The boys were so excited to sit in Santa's big chair and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. It was Talia's first time seeing the man with the beard and she did fantastic!

Christmas Traditions

Like every family, Ian and I started a few traditions that we try to keep up every year so the boys have something that they look forward to besides just presents. :) Here are a few of the things we do.

One of the kids favorite Christmas traditions is our advent calendar. Gama and Gampa gave us this precious calendar when Ian and I first married and each door has 2 chocolates and a paper slip with a bit about the story of Christmas and a family activity idea for the evening. Some of the activities are as simple as bundling up and taking a walk around the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights or singing a certain Christmas carol. It is just a fun way to get everyone feeling the festive fun of the season.

The boys love to lay out all the ornaments on the table before we start to put them on the tree. This year we ended up just using the top half of our fake tree because the whole thing was too tall for our current ceiling! It was cute though and the boys could reach it well enough to place all their ornaments on the tree themselves. 

This is one of our Christmas traditions to start of the season before the tree goes up. The boys dip their hands in red paint and make their mark on the tree skirt. This was Talia's first year to have her hand print on the skirt. It was a bit tricky getting her hand placement right and so it kinda looks like a big blob, but that's okay. At least her little palm completes the year!

Daddy put the Christmas lights up outside. This is how they were put away last year (I am assuming by my 4 and 5 year old!) and after an hour of working at this mess Ian decided to just go out an by some new lights for the house. :)

Talia didn't get into the decorating so much, but she sure is getting to be more awake and aware of her surroundings. Here are a few pics of her during our holiday preparation time.

Knocked out on daddy and mommy's big bed...

Aunt Katie's Visit

Ian's sister Katie came to visit us for a special time over the Christmas holiday! We were so excited to see her and have her in our neck of the woods! The boys had a blast hanging out with Aunt Katie and Talia finally got to meet her Auntie!

Here is a picture of the team at one of our favorite local burger joints… Phil's Ice House

Katie and I sitting on one of the cows on the outside playground near Amy's Ice Cream

Talia and Katie bonding time

One of the gifts Katie got the boys was an I-spy book. They loved working on it together!

The boys and Aunt Katie made a long Christmas chain one afternoon after school

Here the finished product hanging above the dining table

The boys could hardly wait to share an "early Christmas" with Aunt Katie. She had so many stocking stuffers and wrapped presents! The boys went crazy!

Thanks for all the amazing gifts!

Katie and I went to have some girl time one afternoon while the boys were in school and Ian was watching Talia. The chair massages were so aggressive they made you feel like you were riding a roller coaster! It was a hilarious way to get your nails done!

As a special treat Katie watched all the kiddos one night so Ian and I could have a date night! We were so grateful for the special time to just hang out together! We went for Thai food and caught a movie. Katie was a star babysitter! She had the boys in bed and the baby fed by the time we got home! 

The last night before Aunt Katie left we all braved the cold to see Austin's famous "Trail of Lights". It was amazing!

Pretty sure Talia slept through the whole thing, tough. :)

Couldn't miss spinning underneath the 3 story Christmas Tree!

This was way past the boys bedtime. They were literally in their PJ's. We just piled on the jackets and loaded up in the car and headed to Zilker Park.

The most difficult part was finding parking! It was packed! And, quite a workout! We walked the whole thing and Katie and Daddy ended up with a boy on their shoulders while I pushed the stroller!

We had such a blast with Aunt Katie and it really made the holidays start with a bang!

Big Boys

Our boys are getting so big! These were their precious school photos this year!

Elijah Hawk Kirkland

Age 5

Kindergarten

Joaquin Sol Kirkland

Age 4

Pre-Kindergarten

Holiday Parties

With the Christmas holiday season comes the time of holiday parties. The boys had Christmas parties at school and we had follow up activities at home! Elijah's class was first on the list of events and I volunteered to help out for the event. 

The class made cute gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, icing, pretzels, gum drops and sprinkles. They built the houses around a milk carton and they actually stayed up surprisingly well. It was a great idea! Here are some photos from the day.

Elijah and I's attempt at a selfie.

Elijah working at his table

He was proud of his final product

Complete with a candy cane door!

Meanwhile, at home, baby Talia has been working on her smile! She loves to make goo-goo eyes at her big brothers and they love to try to make her smile!

Every now and then she will give us a giggle too!

The boys worked on their own gingerbread house creation at home as well

They did a great job until one of the walls fell over. It didn't take them long to decide the house was a goner and they might as well eat it.

I didn't get any photos from Joaquin's Montessori class party for some reason. So, sorry about that. But it was a fun lunch event where all the kids served the parents and we received special ornaments they made with their school photos in them.